Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (often abbreviated as "MMPR") is a live-action television and movie series based on the Super Sentai series Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, literally Dinosaur Squadron Beast Ranger and often abbreviated as Zyuranger (after the Kunrei-shiki romanization). Although Zyuranger was the main Sentai used for MMPR, it also uses elements (mecha and monsters) from Gosei Sentai Dairanger, literally Five-Star Squadron Dairanger, in its second season andNinja Sentai Kakuranger, or Ninja Squadron Kakuranger, in its third season. At the time, the Super Sentai genre was one of Japan's hottest tokusatsu properties, and Haim Saban seized an opportunity to adapt it for American audiences.

The show first aired on Fox Kids on August 28, 1993 and ended on February 17, 1996. On January 2, 2010 a reversion of the series with a new logo, comic book-referenced graphics, and alternative special effects began airing on ABC Kids but was cancelled after airing 32 first-season episodes due to immense negative backlash from fans and as well as Saban buying back the rights to Power Rangers.

The theme music, "Go Go Power Rangers," was often parodied, and many of its subsequent incarnations contain the words "Go" or "Power Rangers" in their theme music.

Contents

Production

"Ay-yi-yi, this place is a disaster!"

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Before Power Rangers became a worldwide hit during the decade of the 1990s, Super Sentai had been very popular in Japan for decades. Having seen the Japanese program during a trip, Haim Saban began work to adapt it for American television. He realized he could produce an effective adaptation, initially to be called "Dino Rangers," by combining original American footage with the Japanese Sentai stock footage, primarily of action scenes. The pitch was initially rejected by several U.S. networks until Fox head of children's programming, Margaret Loesch, championed the show and ordered 40 episodes.

Zyuranger involved five ancient warriors who were awakened to use their dinosaur powers to fight an evil witch. While Power Rangers used Zyuranger footage, it had a different storyline. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers would feature an evil queen,Rita Repulsa, who was freed from her prison on the moon after 10,000 years. In response, an ancient wizard named Zordon recruited five "overbearing" teenagers. Rita Repulsa's scenes were adapted from the Sentai footage of Zyuranger's main villain, Witch Bandora. Rita's voice was dubbed by Barbara Goodson. The voices of her various underlings and featured monsters would be dubbed by American actors as well.

A pilot episode was filmed but did not air until 1999 as a special "lost episode". A rewritten second pilot, titled "Day of the Dumpster," aired on August 28, 1993. The show became an overnight sensation and was beating Fox Kids' highest-rated show, Batman: The Animated Series, within two weeks of its premiere. A heavy merchandising rollout soon followed, with the Power Rangers being featured in a line of toys by Bandai, as well as apparel, school supplies, video games and more.

The show's popularity was bolstered when a new 6th Ranger named Tommy Oliver (Jason David Frank) was added to the canvas. His introduction in the five-part episode, Green With Evil, took the fast-growing phenomenon to new heights. In keeping with the Zyuranger footage, Tommy's Green Ranger character was written out of the show, causing significant backlash among fans.

Fox eventually extended its 40 episode order to 60, leading the show's producers to alter the ending of the planned series finale, "Doomsday," Because that episode used footage from Zyuranger's final episode, Saban struck a deal with Toei Productions to provide several dozen episodes' worth of additional footage, which allowed the Green Ranger to return. Toei agreed to make subtle modifications to certain elements in order to make its footage more closely match the American storyline. This included changes in personality among the Rangers, and the acknowledgement of a romantic subplot between the Pink and Green Rangers. This supplemental footage is commonly referred to by fans as "Zyu2", and would continue to be used well into the second season.

Now a ratings and merchandising juggernaut, MMPR returned for a second season in the summer of 1994. Fox aired the three-part season premiere in primetime, pairing the latter two episodes with Saban's other Fox megahit, the animated "X-Men" series. Season two brought major changes to the storyline and look of the show. Rita Repulsa was replaced in favor of an original villain, Lord Zedd, which had no Japanese counterpart. The Rangers' original Dinozords were also retired in favor of the Thunderzords utilizing footage from a second Sentai series, Gosei Sentai Dairanger. Saban, meanwhile, was still using up the remaining Zyu2 footage, which forced the Zord battles to be edited in such a way that the Zords and monsters were never seen in the same shot (because the Zyu2 battles included the Dinozords) and, in several instances, Thunder Megazord and Dragonzord would participate in the same battle despite being from two different Sentai productions.

Early in the second season, the Green Ranger's powers were lost for good, and the popular Tommy character was once again written off the show. He would return just a few episodes later as the new White Ranger, which was based on the Dairanger's KibaRanger character. As a result, Saban began producing more original footage of morphed Ranger battles in order to include characters from two disparate Sentai properties, including monsters. But the inclusion of the White Ranger opened the door for Dairanger's Zord battles to air as intended, complete with the new White TigerZord

Walter Jones, Austin St. John, and Thuy Trang all left the show early in season two. At the time of their departure, they had filmed several additional episodes worth of scenes, but were unable to complete additional dialogue recording (or ADR) for quite a few episodes. As a result, footage of Jason, Zack and Trini (while morphed) were dubbed over with different voices. Eventually the trio was written out of the show and replaced by three new Rangers: Rocky DeSantos (Steve Cardenas) as the new Red Ranger, Adam Park (Johnny Yong Bosch) as the new Black Ranger, and Aisha Campbell (Karan Ashley) as the new Yellow Ranger.

Episode variations

Synopsis

Long ago, the ancient wizard Zordon did battle with the evil witch Rita Repulsa. He eventually managed to defeat her in a game using five magic coins. As punishment for her loss, she was sealed in a canister on Planet Nemesis, a planet that travels close to Earth every 10,000 years. However, before being sealed away, Rita trapped Zordon in a time warp.

Millennia later, Rita and her minions escaped their prison and set out to conquer Earth. Zordon, desperate to stop her, had his assistant Alpha 5 recruit five "teenagers with attitude" to counter her threat. They were granted the powers of the dinosaurs, and became the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

After several losing battles, Rita created an evil Power Ranger using a sixth power coin. This Green Ranger, Tommy Oliver, caused major damage to the Power Rangers until they were able to break Rita's spell. Grateful, and now burdened with responsibility, he joined the Power Rangers but was stripped of his powers soon after by Rita's enchanted green candle. Tommy's powers were temporarily transferred to Jason. Later, Zordon was able to directly infuse Tommy's power coin with his own power, and the Green Ranger returned to the team, though his powers would prove unpredictable and would fade over time.

The Rangers continued to thwart Rita's attempts to destroy them. Lord Zedd, Rita's evil overlord, came to the moon and relieved her of her duties, taking over her moon palace and sealing Rita in a dumpster once again. In his first encounter with the Power Rangers, Zedd's Pirhantishead monster froze four of the Dinozords and took control of the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord and Tommy's Dragonzord. Though the Rangers were able to wrest control away from Zedd, the Dinozords would prove to have insufficient power to combat Zedd's more powerful monsters. Before Zedd was able to destroy them forever, Zordon and Alpha 5 used the Dinozords' remaining power to create the Thunderzords, a set of fighting machines in the form of mythical creatures. The Dragonzord would remain, but shortly after Zedd's arrival, Tommy's Green Ranger powers were lost permanently. Dragonzord would return to its slumber under the sea.

Tommy would not be gone for long, however. Zordon and Alpha created new White Ranger powers for him, and he returned as the leader of the Power Rangers, complete with a new White Tigerzord. A short time later, Jason, Zack and Trini were selected to represent their hometown of Angel Grove at a global youth peace conference, forcing them to leave the team. They were replaced by Rocky DeSantos, Adam Park and Aisha Campbell, respectively, who had recently transferred to Angel Grove High School from nearby Stone Canyon.

While the Rangers were on a school trip to Australia, Rita Repulsa made her way back to the moon and worked with her loyal minion, Finster, to give Lord Zedd a love potion while he was deep asleep in his 100 year recharge. When he awoke, he was madly in love with Rita, and the two were quickly married. Zedd later learned of the deception and took an antidote, but realized he loved Rita anyway.

Rita's brother Rito Revolto came to Earth and dealt the Rangers a crippling blow when he and Goldar destroyed the Thunderzords and, along with them, the Rangers' powers. Undaunted, they sought the aid of Ninjor, who had created the powers. After an arduous quest, Ninjor bestowed upon them the new Ninja powers, and fought alongside the Rangers as an ally against Rita and Zedd's combined forces.

Dissatisfied with his daughter's failure to destroy the Power Rangers--and displeased with her choice in a husband--Rita's father, Master Vile, took on the challenge. He was able to turn back time, turning the Rangers into children and removing Ninjor from the equation. While the Rangers embarked on a quest to find five pieces of the mystical Zeo Crystal in order to restore them to their proper time, Zordon enlisted the assistance of the Alien Rangers of Aquitar in the interim. Aisha's Zeo quest took her to her ancestral home of Africa, where she met a young girl named Tanya Sloan. Wanting to use her knowledge of the modern world to help the impoverished people of the land, Aisha chose to stay behind in Africa and sent Tanya back to Angel Grove with the yellow portion of the Zeo Crystal.

Mere moments after uniting the Zeo Crystal and restoring the flow of time, Goldar and Rito Revolto invaded the Command Center and stole it, while also planting an implosion device. Its detonation caused catastrophic damage to the Command Center, and Alpha 5 was able to teleport the Rangers away with just seconds to spare. The Rangers watched as the Command Center was reduced to a pile of flaming rubble.

Power Weapons: Five individual weapons that can combine into the Power Blaster for powerful attacks. Red Ranger uses the Power Sword, Yellow Ranger uses the Power Daggers, Blue Ranger uses the Power Lance, Pink Ranger uses the Power Bow, and Black Ranger uses the Power Axe.

Hydrohog is destroyed. Aisha decides to stay in Africa. Tanya goes to Angel Grove with the Crystal. The Earth is restored, Tanya becomes a teenager, and the Rangers are returned to normal. However, The Command Center is destroyed.